


I Wrote Out Some AmeChu Story Ideas

by StarthornFromScratch



Series: things people told me to write [3]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Human, America doesn't say dude enough, Bad end for everyone, Belarus is demi, Bittersweet Ending, Black triangle trio, Everyone Is Gay, Except a few I guess, Heartbreak, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Human, Human & Country Names Used (Hetalia), Human Names, I Don't Even Know, I was having a pansexual crisis while writing this, I'm Bad At Tagging, Internalized Acephobia, Internalized Homophobia, It's more of a middle-bad ending, Just Add Kittens, Kiku's sexuality who???, Long Shot, Long-Ass Chapters, M/M, Medium end for everyone, Minor America/Japan (Hetalia), Minor China/Russia (Hetalia), Minor internalized bi/pan phobia, Time Travel, Time Travel without consequences in the future, Ukraine's name is Katyusha, Who doesn't like a bad ending?, cw: swearing, dude wow I'm dumb, i will add tags, magic tree house clique, one short chapter, original characters that are not mine, poor babies, the word I was looking for was bittersweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:15:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28981713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarthornFromScratch/pseuds/StarthornFromScratch
Summary: I decided it was time for something other than RoChu, ya know? This is a collection of entirely disconected oneshots, inspired by someone else's ideas. ^u^I really like how most of them turned out. We've got angst, fluff, uhhhh angst and fluff. Just good stuff!
Relationships: America/China (Hetalia), America/Russia (Hetalia)
Series: things people told me to write [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125902
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Childhood Friends To Lovers

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Amechu Story Ideas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191551) by [TyiauniaHarris27](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TyiauniaHarris27/pseuds/TyiauniaHarris27). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Childhood Friends to lovers- Alfred and Yao have been the best of friends since Yao moved to America from China and have inseparable. But, by the time they were in middle school Yao had to move back to his hometown in Beijing, year's passed and they meet again in high-school and Yao released that he had feelings for Alfred for a long time and right as he's about to tell him he's hit with a bombshell that Alfred has a boyfriend named Ivan. Will Yao ever get the chance to confess or will he move on to someone else?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The marking "~(o-o)~" with an enter on either side of it is splitting the writing in the way it would be split if there were different chapters.
> 
> Also Yao doesn't have his vocal tic of 'aru', it seemed unnecessary in this story.
> 
> ... Final note I promise. I messed with the setting of this a bit, and Yao doesn't actually move back to Beijing in the middle. (I would like to pretend this was on purpose but it was really just me forgetting to read thoroughly enough. T^T) Instead, he and Alfred just drift apart.
> 
> Ivan moved to America from Russia, Yao moved to America from China, and Kiku's parents moved to America from Japan.

* * *

~(o-o)~

* * *

"Yao! Hey, Yao!"

Yao looked up from his cardboard-like school chicken nuggets to see a blond, tall, American running in his direction. Alfred Franklin Jones had a very loud and overly obnoxious voice but Yao didn't hate that about him.

Friends since basically as long as Yao could remember, Alfred and himself were nearly inseparable, or as close to it as people who weren't family could get. They had met in the early stages of kindergarten, and since then their personalities had slowly molded into one much louder personality, a singular thing. He supposed that was why his mother always looked so annoyed when he used the American's classic slang terms, when he had been younger it had been much rarer for him to act anything other than calm and collected. From what he had heard from his blond friend Alfred's parents also reacted to actions that were influenced by Yao, though according to how it had been described they were more thrilled than sad when he had started to clear the table on his own- and Yao didn't blame them.

"Hey man," Yao waved his arm over his head in greeting, lifting slightly off his seat on the bench, "I thought you were in lunch detention, no?"

Now standing next to him, Alfred paused a second to catch his breath before shaking his head and slipping onto the seat next to the Chinese boy. "Naw," he panted, "they let me go,"

Yao raised an eyebrow, "They let you go... or you ran away?"

Bumping the brunet with his shoulder Alfred took out his lunch bag, laughing, "Don't be so accusatory," he teased, "I was running to get here before anyone sat next to you,"

"Why would anyone sit next to me?" Yao snorted, watching in dulled amazement as Alfred pulled three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of his bag, followed by a small container of home-made apple sauce and a bottle of juice, "everyone knows you want to sit next to me," he started to take another bite of his food but paused when Alfred spoke.

"Exactly, that's why they would sit here," he was already half way done with one of the sandwiches, "they know that we're friends,"

Yao's face contorted in partial confusion and he put down the dry piece of breaded (and probably fake) meat, "You think they don't want us to be friends? Why would they care?"

Alfred smiled and looked up from his food, but his mouth was full when he spoke, "No that's not what I was saying, I meant that so many people are jealous of you,"

"No one's jealous of me," Yao laughed quietly and shook his head, going back to his meal, "what is there to be jealous of?"

Alfred shrugged, "A lot of people wish I could be their friend, but I can't be friends with _all_ of them, that would be ridiculous. So they want to get along with you so that I talk to them more,"

"Who is they?" Yao shook his head, "I haven't seen anything of the sort, you're just making them out to be bad people..."

Shrugging, Alfred picked up his second sandwich, "Suit yourself, but trust me, some of these people-" he gestured vaguely around the room, "want to have what you have, the-" he attempted to flip his short hair, "- _glorious_ me!"

"The glorious you," Yao repeated, laughing though unable to think of anything other than the mere, stupid, idea of someone caring enough to keep them apart. There was no way anyone could care that much, or even try hard enough to do it. Especially since him and Alfred were about as close as friends got. As he had said before; inseparable. Friends that were friends for as long as they had been, what was it, around seven years now that they were in middle school? Well anyway, friends that had been together for that long weren't supposed to be possible to split apart, they weren't supposed to be separated.

* * *

Two years later, only a few years from graduation, their meetings had become sparse.

Somehow, Yao felt that it was his fault... and maybe it was.

But he couldn't be fully blamed, no, not when the Jones' kid was _right there!_ He couldn't blame himself for feeling... _different_ when he was near the blond. It wasn't in some gross way, but there was something about the way he smiled, something about the way his neck looked when he talked, something about the way he smirked over his shoulder when they told jokes in the hallway. But Alfred had to be the 'different' one, not Yao, not the way he felt. It couldn't be.

Still, no matter what was more to blame Yao realized that it was his job to keep their friendship from wedging itself into pieces. So, he had decided, after at least a year of pondering the significance of a confession of the sort, that he was going to drop the bomb today, even if it cost the rest of their bond or even the respect that he had gained at the school. People didn't really 'respect' him per-say, but they weren't mean to him either, and something like this could mean sacrificing that bit of comfort which he still had left.

"What classroom would he be in..." Yao muttered under his breath, but it was less of a question than a small statement to distract his brain from the worries that just wouldn't seem to go away.

He knew perfectly well what room Alfred would be in today; Mrs. Kimberly's room, number one hundred forty one on the left, the detention room. He knew this because Alfred's schedule rarely changed. It was homeroom (Mr. McGrane's), either gym or German (the gymnasium or Herr Schmidt's), science or math (Mrs. Fuller's either way), lunch or occasionally detention lunch, then tech or social studies (Mr. Brunson or Mrs. DeMarco) and finally English or band in Mr. McGrane's or the band room. Today was just one of those days where he was in lunch detention, Yao didn't even bother to wonder what he had done this time, he was too busy worrying for himself.

He wasn't sure why he wouldn't wait until after the day ended, as they usually walked home together even though they seemed to slowly be growing apart. Perhaps it was his nerves, but the real reason was probably the increasing amount of time Alfred spent on a different bus home these days. He wasn't trying to be creepy by noticing it, really, it was just one of those things that seemed kind of off, not to mention that he would have to wait until after the weekend to spill the beans if Alfred wasn't coming home on their bus that day. He didn't have the strength to call him or set time aside the hang out only to say such a conversation-stopping thing, but there was no way he could make it even two more days without giving in and telling the truth.

Now, getting Alfred out of lunch detention might be a minor problem, but he usually got along with Mrs. Kimberly so perhaps he could make up some dumb excuse. Something about having to go get Alfred's gym stuff from his house and wanting Alfred to make sure he got the right stuff; since their socks looked so alike there was no way he would be able to tell the difference.

Yeah... that sounded like one solid-ass plan if he had ever heard one.

That was how he found himself nearly tripping over the step up in the floor after knocking and being aloud in with a short little chirp of, "Come in Yao!" from the computer tech (and detention) supervisor. (Immediately thinking a 'thank God for nice teachers' as the woman rushed over and helped him pick up his books from the floor he )

"T-thank you, but I had them," he smiled awkwardly, trying to ignore the muffled laughter from the back of the room, there were multiple students other than Alfred in here, he hoped that wouldn't complicate things.

"Does that matter?" the staff worker snorted before standing and smiling at him, "So why are you here sweetie?"

Yao stuttered, mind going blank, "U-uhh..." he trailed off, thinking hard though his idea came back when she frowned, as if wondering if he had stumbled into the wrong room. He never got in trouble, so there was no discernible reason why he would be here. "Ah, yeah," he started again, and a look of relief washed over the woman's face, maybe she had been worried about the possibility of him having to join the other students in detention, "I was told that Alfred and I have to go get his gym stuff from the office, my mom brought it from my house..."

In the corner of his eye, he saw the blond looking up from his comic-book style sketch (he was drawing on his hand in Sharpie) and heard a few other students snickering. His face flushed, what a bunch no-good horny (and gossip capable) high-schoolers, he was able to say this even if he himself was just another one of them.

Mrs. Kimberly sighed, shaking her head at Alfred and laughing softly in amusement, "Alfred did you forget his school stuff at his house?" her hands traveled to her hips as her voice took a joking manner, "I thought I told you to be careful where you left your stuff!"

Alfred looked very confused, probably because he hadn't actually left anything at the brunet's house, but as the woman's words traveled on to, 'is that why you don't have your science work?' he seemed suddenly very happy to have an excuse.

"Yeah," he laughed, "Silly me, I should probably go get that, is that okay ma'am?"

"Yeah it's fine," she smiled, "just come back before the period ends-" she waggled her finger, a fake-stern expression on her face, "-and you'd better have those things Mr. Jones!"

"O-of course!" Alfred stuttered, his smile faltering, perhaps thinking about how he couldn't bring his clothes in because they were locked away in his gym locker, "I'll do that!"

Alfred joined Yao at the door and they were about to turn and leave when Mrs. Kimberly's voice could be heard, calling out to the rest of the room, "Ivan! Why don't you go with them? You said your sister dropped your lunch off in the office, correct?"

Yao looked back, immediately worried that this other student would tell Mrs. Kimberly that they weren't actually going to the office, but his worries were obscured by interest when Alfred smiled and waved, "Yeah, Ivan, come on!" His accent wrapped strangely around the Russian name, but it definitely sounded like he had said it before. Perhaps the other boy was also in detention often? Yao glanced around the room, wondering who Ivan was.

To his surprise, the boy who had been sitting next to Alfred stood, but the surprise was directed more to his height then where he had been sitting. Secondly, his pure white hair was surely a shock. In accordance to this description term, the white haired high-schooler bent down to pick up his stuff, and even then he was still more than half of Yao's height, or at least it looked like that from where he stood at the moment.

When he straightened up again, the- apparently Russian judging by his name and now recognizable thick accent- student nodded to the teacher, though the smile he gave was more unnerving than anything, "да," he purred, and next to Yao, Alfred laughed.

"Come on man," the American grinned, "lets go get your lunch!"

"And your clothes," Mrs. Kimberly warned, calling after them as the three boys took the first few steps out of the room, "Mr. Jones you had better have your stuff when you come back!"

Yao nodded to her, smiling and waving (though the gesture was small) before he shut the door.

"Well," Alfred breathed, putting his hands on his hips and lowering his voice, "there might be a minor problem with this plan since my stuff is locked in my locker," he turned to his childhood friend, "are you sure it wasn't Kiku's or somethin'?"

Yao hesitated, "W-well, no, it wasn't, but-"

Instead of being able to finish the sentence, Yao found himself cut off by the unnaturally tall student who was standing on Alfred's other side, "We should introduce ourselves, yes? I don't believe we've met before..."

They were walking down the hall now, and Yao felt a growing sense of panic in his chest, there was no way he would get the chance to tell Alfred what he had been planning to say if this other student went with them the whole way.

"Really Ivan?" Alfred was laughing, "I mean, I'm sure introductions are important and all by he was literally just speaking,"

Ivan stared down at Yao incredulously and Yao felt himself shrinking away, "He was? How quietly?"

Yeah, Yao disliked him already.

He had been speaking just as loudly as Alfred, even if the blonde's voice was much more attention grabbing than his was, so it was ridiculous to act as though he hadn't been noticeable at all. The only possible excuse was that Ivan had been too focused on Alfred to hear any of Yao's words- which, in that case, was at least _understandable_. Still rude, but understandable.

He was so focused on hating the Russian that it took two tries from Alfred to get him attention again, "Yao! Dude I swear to God-" he was saying by the time the brunet snapped out of the hateful trance.

"Y-yeah, sorry, what were you saying?" he blushed, stealing a glance at Ivan to make sure he wasn't laughing or- God forbid- smiling like he had been to Mrs. Kimberly. Such a worrying grin didn't belong in place of teasing, but Ivan surprised him. Instead of smirking in a mean way he seemed to be interested in the conversation now. (Though his hand was on Alfred's shoulder and Yao would be lying if he said that didn't make him more than a little angry, or uncomfortable, maybe jealous, was there a difference in this context?)

"Dude you, like, totally spaced out there," Alfred laughed before taking a step closer and patting him on the back. His fingers caught in Yao's hair, but only for a second, "I was just wondering what you were going to say,"

Letting go of his momentary jealously, Yao shook his head, clearing it of excess thoughts and focusing on what he had been trying to say before hand, "Ah, I was just going to mention that you don't actually have anything in the office to retrieve..." At first, he was worried that Ivan would be annoyed (or even amused, either was worrying) by the idea of Yao having lied to a staff-member's face, but that fear melted away when he saw Ivan smile. Besides this, both Ivan and Alfred blinked, though Alfred's expression held much more gratitude than surprise.

"Oh good," he sighed, sounding suddenly exhausted, "I thought I was hallucinating having actually left my stuff in my gym locker this time..."

Behind Alfred, Ivan chuckled, causing both the blond and Yao to turn and face him, "Instead of helping him prepare for class you snuck him out of detention? Smart..."

Yao blushed, "Well," he lowered his voice as a group of freshmen girls passed by, "I needed to talk to him, but it can wait if you need to get back to Mrs. Kimberly soon, especially since you-" he gestured to the white haired student, "-actually have to get stuff from the office,"

Ivan nodded, "I understand, when my older sister were still in school she did the same, but she has graduated by now..." he brought a finger to his chin, thinking, "I'm not sure why she would break me out of detention now that I think about it, she was one to follow school rules..."

"As am I," Yao nodded, "maybe she thought it was important-" he meant to move onto another topic, or maybe even walk in silence, but Ivan was immersed in thought and kept talking. There was something about Ivan that just rubbed him the wrong way, or maybe it was how he had never met him before and yet Alfred seemed to know him quite well... just like what he had warned him of back in Elementary school.

"Perhaps," Ivan was murmuring, "as it is not often that I actually do something bad enough to get sent there, but because of my size people always believe that I am threatening enough to be at fault..."

Next to Yao, Alfred laughed again, reminding him that he had been remarkably quiet this entire conversation (which was not at all like him, he loved to be the center of attention). "Oh come off it Vanya," he bumped the taller boy's shoulder- or, he attempted too, it was more like the high middle of his upper arm, "you just don't know how threatening you can really be,"

"Well I don't try to!" he pouted.

Yao was opening his mouth to say something, but then he realized that they were stopping and shut it again. The trio had come to the main office, and as Yao put his hands in his pockets and stood still, stiff, Alfred patted Ivan on the back and laughed, pushing him through the door to retrieve his lunch. Now that Ivan was gone, that left Yao alone in the hallway with his old friend, and so so unsure of what to say.

But, to his surprise, it was Alfred who spoke first.

"If... if you don't- I mean, if..." he was searching for the right words, and he seemed to be struggling, so Yao nodded assuring him that it was okay. "Okay," Alfred sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "To... to be honest I have something important to say too, I've been meaning to mention it for a while," Yao nodded slowly, maintaining eye contact to make it clear that he was listening. Seeing that he attention was focused, Alfred bit his lip and continued, "I tried to tell you a couple weeks ago but I couldn't..."

Though his mind was racing in a thousand different directions, Yao nodded again, keeping his quickening heartbeat at bay, "Well, you can tell me now, right?"

Alfred nodded muttering under his breath in a relived way, "Yeah I knew I could count on you-" he raised his voice once more, "Ah, the thing is that... me and Ivan," Yao nodded again as Alfred went silent, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm, though no new words were spoken. Apparently, that was all Alfred needed to gain the confidence to continue, "me and Ivan are dating," he whispered.

* * *

~(o-o)~

* * *

The trip back to the detention room was a long and uncomfortable one, maybe because Yao felt as though he had just had all of the happiness sucked out of his body, just like if a- oh what were they called again? Oh right, just like if a Dementor from that Harry Potter book series had kissed him or whatever. But this was even worse since Alfred hadn't even kissed him while delivering the news.

Ivan and Alfred were talking about something, but Yao didn't care enough to listen in. Besides, that would just make him feel worse. Truly, he was jealous of Ivan though he had admit that the boy had some level of attractiveness to him, no matter how much he hated him for taking away his chance at love. He was too tall (he preferred Alfred's height), his smile was too weird, and the way he talked felt like it was hitting the wrong part of his ear, he couldn't even decide if his voice was the lowest level he had ever heard or higher than his own. It was just so strange and oh so wrong. He should have been the one to have Alfred, he had known him for longer.

But despite such a head-start Ivan had beaten him fair and square.

Yao rubbed his head, groaning, though neither Alfred nor Ivan were paying close enough attention to hear it.

By the time they got there, it was mostly silent as the trio stopped outside of the detention room, and Ivan slipped into the room with a short nod, leaving them a minute or so to talk- though Yao got the feeling that the time wasn't intentionally granted.

"I'll just tell her that it was Kiku's stuff at your house," Alfred poked a thumb at the classroom door, apparently sensing that something was off with how Yao had taken the news, as his voice was quite and sounded even a bit tentative. This was really strange because he was usually incapable of such a thing.

Emotions overflowing in his brain, Yao had a hard time not snapping back with something offensive, but he couldn't keep back at least what he said next, "Yeah- just let all the students in there think that I'm sort of slut or something..."

Alfred looked surprised, and maybe a little hurt, "What do you mean?" he reached forward and grabbed his friend's hands, worry thick in his eyes, "No one would ever think that about you! Besides," he took the chance to add a bit of self-deprecation for his friend's sake, "if any of us would be a 'slut', as you so say, it would be me,"

Yao looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "You know what they all thought when I said you left your gym stuff at my house, they thought..."

"No way," Alfred shook his head bitterly, "they were just joking, and-"

But Yao cut him off, voice level, "And if they weren't?"

Alfred shook his head, "If their minds go _there_ first I'm sure they have thought of much worse things to say about me and Ivan, so don't even let it bother you," he smiled sadly, "I have to go in now, how about I talk to you after school today? We could sort this all out,"

Then the blond slipped into the room again, his smile melting only at the last second while the door shut behind him.

Yao's thoughts were bitter as he stumbled away, not quite ready to return to the cafeteria, "But I'm sure they would be right about you and Ivan," he muttered, using up the rest of his emotional energy on the heartbroken, and equally judgmental, statement.

* * *

Alfred didn’t meet with him that day,

Well, it was really more like _he_ didn’t meet with Alfred that day. Way too emotionally exhausted to do that, especially since there was no way he would be able to tell Alfred what he had wanted now, Yao felt tired. He couldn’t even bring himself to move, let alone talk to someone. His ability to proceed in a relationship had been confirmed and then abruptly stopped by the fact that Alfred already had a boyfriend.

It was true that Alfred had been hinting at liking guys for a while, though he also mentioned plenty of ‘hot’ girls (the ones that Yao found aesthetically pretty, but not attractive in a traditional sense). Alfred was probably bi or something in close connection to it, but even with the ability to continue in that sense there was no way they could get anywhere with Ivan in the way. Given all his faults, it was hard at first glance to believe that Alfred and him even had a hint of sustainability in their friendship, but Yao still thought of him as one of the most sincere and- more importantly- faithful people he had come across.

Out of anyone he knew Alfred was one of the few that he felt comfortable sharing secrets with. It wasn’t that anyone else was particularly unfaithful, or just because he had known Alfred a very long time, but the American was just easier to talk to.

Sure he was as overpowering in conversations as he was loud and unable to sense the mood… but he wasn’t one to talk behind someone else’s back. Across the year of their friendship they would whisper little things to each other, _‘I actually found the teachers answers and memorized them for that test…’ ‘Mathew’s broken leg is actually my fault…’_ and other things of the sort.

A trust exercise to be sure, but it had brought them together.

Trying not to think about their friendship because he knew that feeling sad about something that he could only have controlled in the past _probably_ wasn't good for him, Yao sat up from where he had been laying. Underneath him the bean bag crunched sadly, especially sadly because there wasn't much stuffing left in it. In that way it reminded Yao or himself. There was a connection between it's low quality and how emotionally empty he felt without this friend.

At this point it wasn't just a question of if he could find love in a typical relationship form, but if he could get his friend back.

To him, and fortunately no one else, it was no secret that he had been crushing on Alfred for a long time, but he had also been friends with Alfred for a long time. Longer than the amount of time he had spent wondering why his smile did that _thing_ when he laughed, how when he hadn't had a hair cut in some time that spike in the front didn't go down, how his eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight... All of these questions were unanswered, and now that someone was in his way they would probably remain unanswered.

He bit his lip and collapsed back into his seat, narrowly avoiding hitting the back of his head on the wall (he remembered to turn away at the last moment). The student lifted his hands to his face and groaned, grumbling something that even he could not fully understand. Rubbing his eyes and pulling his knees up to his chest he half wished that he had just told Alfred right there in the hallway, or maybe even let him come over. His half-heated excuse had probably sounded really rude with no context of truth that he had been about to give. Then, due to a sudden and very worrying thought, his eyes flew open. Yao sat up even faster than he had collapsed back down into the seat (his head brushed the wall and came very close to hitting against the corner of the window, but he was too busy thinking to notice).

The order of events, and how he had reacted during their conversation in the hallway, definitely gave the illusion that he didn't like Alfred anymore because he had a boyfriend. Though it was true that that was detrimental to his own well-being, the reason he was upset by it was not what Alfred's brain was so likely to jump to the conclusion of. He wasn't homophobic!

The brunet was off of the floor, out of his room, and down the stairs in almost no time flat.

From the living room his mother called out in surprise (and maybe annoyance) but through his rushed goodbye he didn't hear her exact words. Hopping on one foot in a fruitless attempt to get his shoes on before he went outside, he scrambled to the door and flung it open. After this he only took a moment to pause and finish slipping his sneakers on before dashing out into the yard and skidding across the driveway, turning onto the sidewalk that bent towards Alfred's house and continuing to run.

What had his sad excuse for a reason to avoid meeting with Alfred been? Something about... science homework perhaps?

Still running, he shook his head, now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. He had to get to Alfred, had to say something other than whatever he had tried to use to get out of embarrassing himself.

How stupid he had been! While he had been worrying about how Alfred, who literally had a boyfriend, would feel about him liking guys, his poor blonde friend had probably been even more worried than him, and about more pressing matters! There weren't many times when the American lowered his voice, but when he did it was usually about something he knew could possibly endanger his reputation.

No matter how uppity and pushy he always acted, and no matter how little he appeared to care about what people thought about him, he always listened to other student's criticisms. Alfred was a person despite his wild personality, and he had his breaking points. His breaking points just so happened to all deal with how he was seen in the eyes of his community.

Yao didn't want his friend to have to worry about possible rumors starting, he didn't want him to worry at all! So he had to get to the blonde's house before guilt consumed him, before he felt too fearful of how Alfred felt to continue.

* * *

In his room, Alfred was playing with a utility knife.

Lying on his back on his bed, he tossed it up and down above him and watched the separate blades flick in and out of the handle before catching it, sometimes by the blade and sometimes by the handle. It was a dangerous game, and his mother must have told him to stop doing it a million times before. Yet in times where he had made stupid decisions he liked playing a little on the risky side with things that could give him physical injures instead of the social ones he so often caused himself.

He didn't really think Yao would tell anyone else, but the probability that he would dislike him personally was much higher than he had originally thought. Losing focus on the knife, he blinked and saw the sharp object hurtling down towards him. Forced to roll of his bed to avoid getting hit with the knife, Alfred's mind was only briefly taken off of his friend's opinion on his love life.

Another thing he was should have stopped doing, according to his mother, was letting his mind wander so much. Now dazed and on his back on the floor, he had to internally agree with that, especially because the criticism was specifically directed towards thinking about non-important things while doing potentially dangerous things. No thinking about that Fall Out Boy concert while crossing the street, no thinking about his late English homework while cooking bacon, no wondering what he would have done differently than Percy Jackson had he been the son of Poseidon while climbing trees, and in general no throwing knives at one's self.

Sure the knife life little cuts on his hands, but he wasn't in any _real_ danger.

His mom was so _boring_.

But speak of the devil, out of the corner of his eyes Alfred spotted the door handle turning. The American looked around, trying (and failing) to get into a position that made it seem as though he had not just fallen out of his bed. By the time she had entered the room he hadn't managed to get anywhere in his attempts so he could only smile awkwardly at his mother.

"Hi," he started, sounding both rushed and unsure of what to say, "what is it?"

She stared at him, unimpressed blue eyes traveling from his left leg (which was at an awkward angle on top of a chair), to his right arm (which was holding onto his bed sheets), to the knife on the bed. She glared at him, striding across the room and snatching the potential weapon off his sleeping space. When he tried to protest against this, however, she spoke over him. 

"I thought I told you not to play with this!" she shook her head, muttering under her breath. Alfred could only guess what exactly she said, but he did here an 'unbelievable' somewhere in it. But before he could finish deciphering his mothers words her hands were back on her hips and she frowning at him once more. "I was already coming up the stairs to get you when I heard you fall,"

"I didn't fall! I choose to land on the floor!" Alfred protested, but his mother only sighed and reached down to take his hand, helping him to his feet.

"You did fall, don't play these games with me," she glanced around and made a face at the messy state of his room, "but that isn't why I came in," her son opened his mouth as if to speak again but she shushed him, continuing. "Your friend is here, well, he's at the door," she paused to think but shook her head as if clearing thoughts and continued, "Anyway, it sounded kind of urgent, he says you have a test on Monday and you need to study,"

Before Alfred could even ask which friend was at the door his mother was already out of the room.

Tilting his head back and groaning, the blonde followed her out of the room and into the hallway. He clambered down the stairs, trying to keep his worries inside of him, and doing successfully enough. He had time to ask for his knife back when he passed his mother on the way to the door. (His request was denied, but at least there was an attempt. In fact, instead of giving it back she scolded him for focusing on materialistic objects so much that he forgot about studying with his friend. When had any friend told him they were going to study together that day?)

As his hand curled around the door handle the only noises were the beeping sounds coming from his brother's Nintendo DS and his mother bustling around the kitchen. When he began to open the door he half expected Kiku to have shown up unannounced with the intention of watching Death Eater on DVD. His brain would have immediately jumped to Ivan but he knew that his silver-haired boyfriend had soccer practice today.

But, he was wrong.

Instead of Kiku or Ivan it Yao was who was standing outside, and he looking rather embarrassed.

* * *

~(o-o)~

* * *

It was because of all this wrongly placed mental preparation that he felt as though his soul had flown up to ghost Heaven by the time his brain comprehended that it was indeed Yao who was standing at the door. It took him so long to stop thinking about worst-case scenarios that he almost forgot to let his friend inside. He wouldn't have been so surprised by the other's appearance at his house if he hadn't just been thinking about him. To be fair, he had been thinking about the things that could happen because of possible actions that he had assigned to the brunet and not Yao himself, but they were still related ideas.

Alfred's mother greeted Yao again, though he turned down her offer for crackers and cheese, reminding her that their studying was to start shortly. (Alfred had no knowledge that they both had a test, even though Yao had originally told him that they couldn't hang out because of academics.)

So as to 'not bother Matthew' the duo went up the stairs, creaking up to Alfred's room in silence. When Alfred started to speak, trying to communicate his confusion with the situation, but the brunet just shushed him. When they were at his room, Yao only hesitated for a moment before opening the door and letting himself in.

Honestly, there was so much Alfred wanted to ask. Why he was here, for instance, was a very pressing question. Why he hadn't told him this was happening was another, though if his mother was to be believed he had already been warned of the study section. The blonde only had a moment to feel internal panic at the prospect of this idea, he wasn't usually very forgetful so it was kind of worrying to think he could have forgotten something as important as hanging out with someone he wanted to talk to.

He didn't have very long to panic because immediately after he shut the door behind them Yao spoke up.

"Don't worry," he reassured the American, "I'm not here to shove math equations down your throat, and I lied to your mom about studying too."

Those words took a second to set in. For one thing, it was very comforting to know that he hadn't just forgotten something and also that he didn't have to do school work. For another thing, that only opened more conversational doors. Of course this was because he hadn't answered the most pressing question-

"If that's so," Alfred tread carefully with his words, "then why are you really here,"

Just as carefully, Yao slowly sat down on the hardwood floor. Alfred followed and plopped down onto the carpeted half of the room but he didn't take his eyes of his friend, trying to catch any sign of anger or clear thoughts. Unfortunately (or fortunately) he couldn't sense any direct emotions, but it was clear that his was thinking hard, possibly about what to say.

When he finally looked up again the look on his face held more fear then even Alfred expected to see on himself, but there was something else there. A sort of calm, as if he knew that if he said the right things the conversation could he in his favor, and that he didn't have to be scared. The look in his eyes told of panic, but the rest of his face remained resolute and hard, he had clearly made up his mind on something. Alfred was so caught up in this expression, and the pure story it told, that he started to feel himself slipping into worry as well. What was Yao about to say? Would he disapprove of his best friend dating a boy? Would he wish that they stop talking in public? Would-

"Alfred I've had a crush on you for two years."

Every thought in Alfred's brain stopped. It was like his train of thought had stopped moving on it's tracks. The world slowed and he wasn't sure what he felt first- was it panic or the cool relief of safety? Was there a difference for these reactions for this particular scenario? His eyes traveled over his friend, from his clenched fists pressed against the wooded floor to the resignment and yet pride in his eyes and finally the grimace that held his mouth in place. He had been thinking about this moment for a long time, that was what Alfred could tell.

What exactly he was attempting to convey be the confession was a mystery. Was it supposed to guilt him into breaking up with Ivan? Was it supposed to be a final secret before they stopped talking? Was it supposed to reassure him that he didn't hate the fact that he was bi? Or was it a joke? If he had time to think about that last question it would have been terrifying but Yao spoke again, quelling at least that fear before worse ones arose.

"And I'm uh," Alfred could see the blush on his friend's face as Yao's eyes remained trained on the floor board in front of him, "I'm... I'm not mad that you have a boyfriend. I just..." he trailed off and bit his lip, gaze hardening as if he hadn't thought of a better way to say it and hated the way he had presented the words. Alfred just barely closer, hanging onto the golden eyed boy's words with a necessity he hadn't felt before.

When Yao's words came, they rushed out of him as if they were racing to get out first. This time his emotions were too much and Alfred could see him really struggling to hold back tears, "I'm not-" he stuttered, "I, I mean, I don't mind. It's fine that you have a..." he bit his lip, anger clouding his gaze for only a second, "that you have Ivan, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not homophobic or-r," he stuttered to a stop.

There was a beat of silence.

"Or something," his voice was small and relatively broken. No longer was there pride in his expression, instead it was as if the relief he had felt by getting the weight on holding back secrets off his chest was gone, dissipated into the air like smoke. All the good emotions had been disputed for too long and had been replaced with fear.

It was too sudden.

The panic inside of Alfred was heightening as well, though if it was for himself or Yao he didn't know- all he knew was that a hug was in order.

Getting up from his crisscrossed position Alfred waddled his way over to the brunet, using his knees like feet. (This hurt quite a lot more than standing up and walking over, but he felt it would he less threatening.) He wrapped his arms around the other school boy, nearly knocking him over with the sudden force of the hug. The only noise Yao made was a little yelp that was swiftly cut off when his overactive imagination realized that he was not, in fact, being attacked.

"Coming out is tough," Alfred's voice was muffled against his neck as he tightened the hug, "I should know,"

Yao's laugh was only a little choked by the incoming tears, "aren't you only out to a few people?"

The American just hugged him tighter, "W-well," he sniffed, but the brunet could hear a smile in the way he spoke, "Well yeah, but that doesn't make it any less difficult..."

There was a small pause that only consisted of sad laughter before Yao found the strength to speak again, "I get it," he whispered, burying his nose in his friend's neck, which only caused him to wish the other was single a little more, "I know,"

"Your secret is safe with me," Alfred murmured into his shoulder.

"Same to you," Yao sighed, thankful that Alfred hadn't thought the way he had phrased his explanation to be hateful or creepy. It was that intrusive thought that brought him to sit up a little straighter. "I didn't mean to sound weird, I'd like to just stay friends with you," it was a weak attempt to clear up his creep-like behavior but it was something, "I just didn't know how to say it any other way,"

Alfred laughed, and pulled away from the hug, smiling sadly at him. In that moment Yao could clearly see that had had also been tearing up, "I'll be glad to stay just friends with you,"

* * *

In order to get out of the house without looking suspicious and accidentally letting Alfred's mom think that they hadn't been studying, Alfred made a big show of telling Yao never to tell him just once that they were going to study together because his brain hurt and he needed to take a nap. To go along with this story, Yao kept up the act of apologizing for not giving him more warnings in advance. They had called his parents earlier in the evening, explaining that he had left out of no where because he had forgotten he had set up time to study with Alfred, but that it was okay since Alfred had also forgotten about their meeting. His mom still seemed a little annoyed, but she was at least glad that he was focusing on his schoolwork.

They had even set up a list of subjects they had supposedly focused on and made sure that each story added up, though it would be unlikely that anyone would be paying enough attention to tell that they hadn't actually finished any homework and made up a list of test review questions. (In case Yao's parents asked where said list was he had come up with the idea that they had only made one and Alfred needed it more.)

It was a pretty convincing story.

That night, Yao found himself lying awake. It was almost as if his eyes didn't want to close, as if his brain didn't want to calm down enough to let him get some shut-eye. Thank God that it wasn't a school day the next day, but he still wanted to wake up early and have breakfast with his family. It was a good habit, family time and the impeccable sleep schedule that he couldn't for the life of him set up.

He really wasn't mad that Alfred had a boyfriend, it wasn't that big of a deal and besides, it wasn't like he would have had much of a chance anyway. Happy that he had gotten his secret out without getting hit or laughed at, Yao wasn't quite sure what else he wanted. But it didn't feel like enough to have such a confession end without some sort of movie clique. It wasn't as though he expected something more to happen, he knew Alfred was very faithful, but that didn't stop him from wanting at least one kiss.

Fine, he was bitterly jealous of Ivan. He hadn't even spoken to him much but he could already feel a boiling hatred in his heart.

Shoot, he was attractive and all, it wasn't like he didn't see why Alfred had picked him in that regard. But there wasn't really... much other than looks that he felt like the white haired student held. They hadn't held a long conversation with each other, and maybe it was just internalized distain that made Yao shrink away from the idea of the Russian being interesting to be around, but Ivan really didn't seem to be much more than a tall door in the way of Yao's love life. Okay, yeah, it was a hatred definitely powered by jealousy but that didn't keep back the fact that he just felt off.

Ivan on his own wasn't a problem but when he was near Alfred Yao felt like he needed to protect the blonde, not that he couldn't protect himself. Even if this counted as further proof that he was partial to the idea of Ivan being a bad person he didn't care. He knew he wanted to be able to 'save' Alfred, even if he didn't want there to be a reason why he would be needed to do so. Heck, in that situation he didn't even have a solid plan for what he would do afterwards. It was no doubt that in that case Alfred would feel betrayed and probably wouldn't want another relationship, or maybe he would feel bitter and hate the fact that Yao had split him off from Ivan (even if it had been necessary).

Really, why he was thinking about this as if it would happen was a mystery.

He knew that something like this would never happen in real life.

* * *

~(o-o)~

* * *

Ivan was never one to have tough physiological conversations with his sister's stuffed snowman plushies, but that didn't exactly stop him from doing it from time to time.

Honestly, he was fine with living in a world where Alfred was the main character, main characters usually had a love interest in American media right? He was okay with just being a love interest. That sort of thing was okay, especially since he really did love his new boyfriend, not new in the sense that he was a disposable relationship. No nothing like that, Ivan hadn't ever been in a relationship before this.

Realistically, he knew that they probably wouldn't stay together for life (they were just a high school couple after all) but sometimes he liked to think that maybe it was possible. There was real love there for sure, and no one had directly objected yet. To his knowledge only his two sisters knew, but even if so few people were aware of him and Alfred it still boiled down into one hundred percent of people who were aware of his relationship being supportive. That was comforting, really, it was very nice to know that they didn't hate him for it. (In complete honesty he hadn't expected it to go over so well with Natalya, she had always been overly attached to him, so it was really nice to see her okay with Alfred dating her brother.)

His older sister, Katyusha (the one who used to help him out of detention before she graduated), was less surprising. She had been worried that he was getting into relationships too quickly, but Ivan knew she would have acted the same no matter the gender of his partner. Katyusha was a little overprotective to be sure, but she wasn't in his face about it, it was out of kindness and she knew how to keep those 'motherly' instincts back.

So of course she approved of his boyfriend, she had even said that Alfred was a 'nice boy' which was high praise coming from her.

Actually, it wasn't that high of praise since she pretty much liked everyone she came into contact with, but he liked to think she had been super overly supportive just to put down the ridiculous worries that were still in his mind. It was stupid to think that his sisters hadn't approved of him liking guys, especially since Natalya herself often crushed on her female friends. It was just that instinctual fear that snuck up on him at the worst times, the fear that kept so many people from every being themselves, the fear that kept people trapped in a closet of fake attraction and an endless acting career. For so many people it was a positively necessary survival tool- this being scared to be one's self. But Ivan shouldn't have had to be one of those people. Everyone that he had told had not minded, so why did he still feel alone? Why did he still feel scared?

"It shouldn't be too much to ask," he muttered to himself, poking one of the plush snowmen's face with a gloved index finger, "to not have to run from love,"

He bit his lip, it really shouldn't have been too much. One of the main reasons why he had started to be with Alfred had been to gain the right to be proud of his identity. He wasn't only attracted to guys, that was certain, but he didn't know how else to identify. There were too many people out there who didn't 'believe' that someone could be attracted to guys and girls, or quite frankly to everyone. 

Gender wasn't a factor in the equation, but he didn't know how many people would just tell him he liked guys because he was dating a guy and stop listening to his explanation. Gender wasn't a factor in attraction and that was why, he supposed, he had decided to follow love into this relationship with Alfred.

Apparently Alfred was also attracted to people other than guys and perhaps that was why Ivan was able to feel so comfortable dating him. He knew that he wasn't alone feeling kicked out from the rest of the 'main' sexualities. And by this he meant the ones that specified one gender- straight, gay... lesbian, that sort of thing. The difference between him and Alfred was that the American boy mentally put the genders in sort of... categories...? He didn't know what Alfred's thought process was, and it seemed like the blonde didn't quite understand it either.

Of course he didn't, it wasn't like any of them had any control on who they liked.

In a flourishing end to his thought he scowled and made a choking motion of the snowman he was holding. His scowl held for a few seconds, and for a heartbeat further he stayed still and choked the stuffed object as if it's fictional death would give him clarification that how he experienced his sexuality was valid.

But eventually he let go and let the soft object drop the the floor, bouncing off his left foot and rolling a few feet away. He followed it's trip with his eyes, trailing it's movement without really watching. But even with his apparent disinterest he was far too focused on the movement than to realize that Katyusha had walked into the room. Instead, it was her voice that brought him to attention.

"Hey Vanya," despite how quietly she spoke, Ivan jumped and whipped around, not expecting her to be there. A sad smile lit her face she she reached out and took his hand, clearly worried. How obviously telling had his expression been? Was it just this easy for his sister to tell that he was distressed. Maybe it took a moment or two for him to respond but eventually he was able to nod in acknowledgement, averting his gaze. He didn't really want to talk to anyone.

"Are you alright?"

He should not have been logically surprised by the question, but it came as one anyway. "I'm..." he started, searching for words that would quell her cautious worry, "I'm fine sis," he forced a smile, "why do you ask?"

Katyusha held his gaze, a ever-present look of sadness meeting the worry that was still imminent in her eyes, but then she sighed and turned away. "I'm just worried about you brother,"

Ivan didn't really have anything to say to that, so the siblings stood in silence, still holding hands and staring at the stuffed snowman that lay forlornly on the floor.

No matter what happened, Ivan refused to be alone.

He refused to be left by himself, just another broken toy. Just another choked up stuffed animal thrown at the feet of someone who was too grown up to play any more. Just another useless wind up music box that no one ever opened.

That was really the reason he was with Alfred.

That fear of being used, that terror in the face of being dropped on the curb after being left behind. That fear that kept him from interacting with the kids at school. That same fear that forced him away from social situations to hide from potential self-destruction. With Alfred, he didn't need to worry about being left behind. Sure, his sisters weren't about to abandon him, but his siblings were not people that he could test out who he could romantically love with, obviously.

A boyfriend could validate how he felt towards attraction, a boyfriend could prove to the world that he could follow his attraction without being ashamed. And, more importantly, a boyfriend could protect him from unnecessary social confrontation by doing it himself. He didn't want to get on anyone's bad sides because they might pretend to live him at first and then betray him. Maybe it was a ridiculous thought, paranoid and useless, but it wasn't the sort of thought that he could just get rid of.

It wasn't like he needed fixing.

It wasn't like he actually _needed_ Alfred's help.

The difference was that it wouldn't be nearly as easy to avoid hatred without support, and sometimes Katyusha and Natalya simply weren't enough on their own. It wasn't their fault, it wasn't anybody's fault, and that was important to know.

It was important, but it wasn't hard to realize either.

He loved his boyfriend, really he did, but it was a little disturbing to realize that it wasn't the only reason they were together. Alfred loved him, and as far as he was aware there were no exterior motives on that side of things. That was the only part that made him regret his background interests in the relationship, the fact that Alfred wasn't there for reasons past the reason of love. The fact that he was the only one out of the two of them who was there for safety as well as love, for confirmation as well as attraction.

He wasn't going to hurt Alfred with these things, of course not, he didn't want to hurt anyone he loved. Even the fact that he was there to feel safe could be boiled down to nothing harmful, and he was sure that if his American boyfriend knew of these specifics he would just laugh and give him a kiss. Thinking about how he wouldn't be hated for it was comforting.

So he just kept thinking about it.

And thinking about it.

And thinking about it.

And-

"Hey," Katyusha turned to her younger brother and her eyes softened even though there was a tentative glint in them, "Ivan... are you ready to tell your boyfriend that we're leaving?"

Ivan started.

He had almost been able to make himself forget.

Oh, if only he could think about finding love forever.

He wanted so badly to stay with Alfred, but he couldn't.

He would leave the United States for his home country without an explanation...

...and he would have to leave his love behind.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_It doesn't take too long to disappear from this world._

_Really, it's not that hard to leave the places you love in the past._

_But it's pretty hard to leave the people you love._

_Why Ivan left was a mystery._

_He wasn't gone in the terms of death, but Alfred hadn't heard from him in at least four years._

_Yao hadn't either._

_But even though his friend was still there, the friend that had confessed of a crush..._

_Alfred hadn't been able to find love again._

the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (idk what the fuck that end was either lmao)
> 
> "Coming out is tough, I should know."  
> That's why such an emphasis was put on the danger of it, I was speaking directly through Alfred for that sentence. ^^'
> 
> Okay! I hope y'all like this first chapter! If I had written this story myself it probably would have been multiple chapters long, just so you know. :) (But since I'm attempting to stick with the same amount of chapters as the original idea book I have it all in one!) Anyway, the second chapter/story is going to be much much MUCH shorter when it comes out, this just deserved a long one. >u<
> 
> (Actually I was speaking through all the characters in this, I've been having trouble with my identity as of late... So yeah I was really venting through Ivan in that one part.)
> 
> Exact sexualities in case you were curious:  
> Alfred - Bi  
> Ivan - Pan  
> Yao - Gay  
> Katyusha - Straight  
> Natalya - Demi  
> Mathew - AceAro  
> Kiku - ????  
> (Just for this one-shot of course.)
> 
> It was a little awkward at the end, but I was just so done with writing at this point and I really needed it out of my drafts. xd


	2. Future Children

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A young girl named Amy and her siblings named Mulan and Ai discover a time traveling spell from their uncle Arthur's book of magic spells and accidently Travel back in time to when their parents were younger and barely confessed their obvious feelings for each other. Let's just say choas is in sue."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayy yo,,, it's ur girl,,,, skinny p-
> 
> *Quick note: Mulan and Amy call themselves twins because they were born on the same day, but they aren't biologically related.
> 
> ALSO! There is a very very very minor bit of referenced racism (? I'm not sure if that's the right term) but I brush over it quickly because I don't want to fuck up writing such a serious topic. Please please please keep in mind that it might not be portrayed correctly.

_The year is twenty twenty one, and three children are getting very bored of being cooped up at home._

"Hey!!"

Mulan pretty much jumped out of her skin with the loud noise almost directly in her ear. Just barely avoiding falling out of her chair and dropping the sandwich she had been about to eat back onto the table, the fourteen year old whipped around to face her sister.

Now face to face with a brightly grinning (and it was suspiciously at that) Amy, Mulan slammed her fist down on her thigh and grimaced, "There is NO reason to yell in my face like that!"

Amy rolled her eyes and slipped into the chair next to her black haired sister, mumbling _'there is when I try hard enough'_ under her breath, but just loud enough to aggravate the older twin a little further. "But seriously," she nodded as if agreeing with her own words would prove any point, "I do have a reason this time,"

"Oh ho ho!" Mulan drummed her nails on the table, leaning forward and smirking a smile full of annoyance, "so you admit to having no reason often?"

"I did not say that!" Any retorted, scowling with just enough pondering in her eyes to make the expression almost comical, "And besides- I'm American, it's practically in my D.N.A. to exaggerate!"

"Uh huh, I'd bet," Mulan was unimpressed, even if the statement held at least some merit.

"Sis- ya gotta believe me!" Amy groaned, laying back on the table and bringing the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically, "if you don't listen to me I swear I shall die,"

Mulan sighed loudly and put down the sandwich she had just picked up.

"Okay," she squinted and rubbed her eyes, "I'm listening,"

Immediately Amy sat back up, grinning widely as she did so, "Okay, glad to hear that you still love me,"

Mulan rolled her eyes once more and dropped her chin into her hand, resting comfortably and expecting a long and drawn out explanation about the nearest McDonald's running out of french fries. "I never stopped loving you Amy,"

Ignoring the sweet confirmation of platonic appreciation and grabbing her sister's wrist enthusiastically, Amy began her speech. Surprisingly, however, it wasn't a speech about food or sports (which was a good thing because Mulan didn't know how long she could feign interest in such topics). Instead of repetitive things like that Amy excitedly began a tale about magic and bravery. (Actually, it was a story about getting lost at a world meeting and taking a spell book from England, but a girl could pretend eh?)

As the story was laid out, the details of the fore-mentioned event became apparent.

Amy had found England's stuff, the paper work and books that he had brought to the meeting, and had of course started to go though it. According to her recollection of the event what had spurred her on was a interest in the safety of American freedom, though Mulan had a sneaking suspicion that she was just using this idea as a dirty excuse to snoop around. But whatever the reason for her thievery was the act was done and Amy had soon found herself looking through an old leather bound book.

It was at this point in the story that the blonde pulled out said book. Upon seeing the possibly dangerous object, Mulan was forced to press her back against the table as she shrank away from her sister's outstretched hands.

Amy just laughed, "Oh come off it Lanie," the American girl tossed the book from hand to hand and relished in the aggravation that lit her sister's eyes at the use of the undecided nickname, "it's not like it's cursed or something, I'm not dead yet!"

"First of all," Mulan stood from her chair and brushed her basketball shorts off. She looked up and scowled a dent into the younger twin's smile, "it could be cursed. Not all curses deal with death. And second off-" she pulled her hands to her hips and took a step back, "don't call me 'Lanie', okay?"

Amy groaned and stood as well, throwing her arms up in exasperation, "Dude, this could be our only chance to use British magic, what more to do want?!"

"To not get sent to hell by a demon summoning mess-up!" Mulan fired back, "I don't know why it's so hard for you to see how dangerous this could be!"

The both stood still as Amy tried to think of a creative insult to respond with, Mulan was breathing heavily even though she hadn't even got that worked up. Neither of their parents were in the house, so if something horrific happened they couldn't have immediate help if they had to go about fixing it. Mulan shivered, not even wanting to think what would happen to them if they released a spell that had no counter measures.

Finally, Amy's arms drooped weakly down to her sides, "Fine," she sighed defeatedly, "I'll go talk to Ai about it if you're so scared," She began to turn towards the door of the dinning room, ready to leave.

Mulan jumped, stuttering into action once more. Granted, she didn't want dark magic anywhere near her but it felt wrong to put such a dangerous resource in the hands of a eleven year old. "No!" she exclaimed, panicked, and threw her hands out in front of her, communicating the in best way she could that she wasn't going to let her Amy leave the room, "No, I'll listen to you!"

She caught a smirk on her sister's face as the blond turned around, but it quickly morphed into a well acted appreciatory smile, "Really?" she asked, feigning surprise almost well enough to trick Mulan into thinking that she had actually been about to teach dark magic to their younger sibling and not just pester the older twin more. Mulan bit her lip, she knew that Amy probably wasn't dumb enough to do something stupid like that but he hadn't been about to risk it, and now she had to pay for her actions and take the consequences.

Amy sauntered over and placed the book on the table, lovingly patting it's cover twice. Mulan looked away, not wanting to commit the object to memory in case it had some sort of curiosity curse on it. But, all too quickly, Amy reached forward and threw the book open.

Mulan half expected a hole to form in the ground and swallow them up to the pits of Hell, but it didn't come.

Beside her, Amy whooped happily as a puff of green smoke snuck out from between the pages. She was obviously enjoying the danger, which only brought annoyance closer to the front of Mulan's mind. How could her sister laugh in the face of eternal damnation like this? Clearly, she inherited their dad's genes... well, she couldn't have since they were adopted but it was a rather nice thought to think anyway. (Nice in the terms of being the 'smarter' or 'better' sibling, nice as in wining their little skirmishes and constantly being better even in competitive things.)

Amy and Mulan fought a lot but it was all in good fun.

This action of bringing dark magic into their home, however, could surely not be in good fun, and very soon Mulan was proven right. It only took a moment or two of spacing out and thinking about sibling quarrels to jump when Amy suddenly yelled out in surprise. Immediately thinking the worst, Mulan swiftly swished her body into a sports-ready stance, though how she could fight a book she did not know. It was because of this readiness to attack that she was especially surprised to see her little sister Ai walking into the room.

" 'What's up fuckers,' " the eleven year old recited, raising her shoulders dramatically, "I heard fighting!"

" 'What's,,, up,,, fuckers?' " Mulan repeated in astonishment as Amy burst into laughter at the prospect of the little black haired girl watching not-clean vine compilations. Realizing what her little sister had said, and tried to get away with, heat rose to Mulan's face, "Ai! Don't say that!"

"Why not?" Ai smirked and walked over to the book, "Oooh, what 'cha go here?"

"It's a book," Mulan fumed, poking the little girl in the back, "and I keep telling you not to swear, so why do you keep doing it?"

"Awe, let her have some fun Lanie!" Amy laughed, turning to book towards Ai so she could get a better look at it, "it's not like she's gonna get caught swearing unless we tell on her,"

Mulan couldn't form a proper answer, caught between wanting to confirm that she _would_ , in fact, be telling on Ai and that she had already mentioned how much she hated the Western style nick name. Shooting a mean smile towards her, Amy turned back towards Ai and started re-telling the story of how she had gotten her grimey little hands on the books leather spine. Ai seemed disinterested, but she didn't interrupt and instead spent the time flipping through the old yellowed pages and staring at the indecipherable symbols that sat on them.

But just as Mulan was about to turn and leave the room, she heard Ai's voice pipe up from the table.

"I want to go..." her finger hovered over a few words, and finally landed on a date a few decades prior, "...there,"

Amy started to laugh, but just then the floor shook a little and she cut herself off, going silent. Mulan whipped towards the window, scanning the driveway to see if a large truck was going down their road but there was nothing. The road was completely empty.

The seemingly impenetrable silence lasted a little too long before Amy started laughing once more, already acting all 'holier than thou' about the situation, even though she had been just as panicked even if it had been momentary. However her laughing was very quickly brought to a close for a second time when the floor started to shake again, though it this time it didn't stop.

Mulan swiveled her head around, searching for a fault in the floor in case they were falling into a very ill-timed sink hole or if Hell really had decided that the three of them were worthy of early judgment. Ai was also looking around, but Amy just reached out and grabbed the book from the table, bringing it close to her face as her two siblings raced around the room, looking for something to defend themselves with. (For some odd reason, the doors seemed impossible to reach, and no matter how close you got to them they just... weren't there.) Amy skimmed the page franticly, muttering under her breath and cursing at the runes which she could not understand. The only words which she could understand happened to be in numbers, and a realization started to catch in the back of her mind, though it would not settle as the world continued to shake.

But it wasn't just shaking anymore.

Mulan screamed as her center of gravity was thrown off, and Ai did the same as she fell the other direction. As Amy tripped on the sensation of a particularly strong gust of wind sucking her off her feet the book flew out of her hands and landed in the corner of the room behind the refrigerator.

"No-" she choked out just before the spinning of the room around them rose to an insufferable tempo. She tried to reach out her arm, tried to let her fingers find the edge of the book, tried to hold onto their only source of healing, but she couldn't. The room was moving too fast.

It spun faster and faster-

...and then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

* * *

When the trio came too, there were stars hanging in the sky, though they were partially obscured by a tin roof a couple feet above.

Amy groaned as she sat up, body heavy as she turned to face her sisters. Ai was curled up in fetal position, back against a trashcan, and Mulan was flat on stomach back, one leg lying at an odd angle on top of a few trash bags. Amy coughed and laid back down, groaning in pain. There was a rushing sensation in her head, as if she had wacked it against pavement, which wasn't that much of a stretch considering that she was lying down with her back against pavement.

Just as Amy was about to close her eyes again, Mulan rolled onto her back and suffered through the process of sitting up. She went into a kneeling position, sitting on her heels, and leaned down holding her head, groaning in pain.

"Well fuck," she spat, throwing her anger into a very uncharacteristic curse as she turned to the younger twin, "I told you that book was a bad idea,"

Amy only groaned in response, but out of the corner of her eye she caught Ai sitting up, though her movement was far too mechanical for a living being. Apparently Mulan also saw this because the next furious curse was thrown in her direction.

"Been reading a few too many Magic Tree House books, eh shit-head?" Mulan growled through gritted teeth as she pressed her hands against her temples, trying to stop the incessant (and rather painful) pounding of her blood. There was a dark bruise forming on her cheek as well as one on the back of her knee.

"I didn't think it would actually work!" Ai exclaimed as she rolled up to her knees, sounding equal parts enthused and terrified.

"What even happened?" Mulan bit out, hand pressed hard to the bruise on her face, applying pressure in hopes that the extra pain would make the real thing feel less awful.

"It looks like we time traveled," Amy breathed, throwing her forearm over her eyes and panting with the effort to speak, "Holy cow, Ai," though her eyes were still closed she turned to her little sister and didn't even attempt to keep the terror out of her voice, "you didn't tell me you had magic!"

"I didn't know!" Ai raised her hands to her cheeks, patting them to make she she hadn't sustained any major injuries, "When did we even travel too?"

Mulan bit her lip as she glanced around at the dirty, trash filled alleyway they had landed in, "Looks like some street somewhere, but if we time traveled it's got to be somewhere in the past because I really hope the future doesn't have pollution this bad." Amy threw her arm off her eyes as she and Ai turned and stared at Mulan. Mulan just rolled her eyes, swallowing to keep the panic and pain at bay, "W-well what do we do now?"

There was a beat of silence as the three siblings tried to think of a logical answer to the very necessary question.

Finally Amy pulled herself off the dirty ground and winced putting her hands on her hips in an attempt to appear confident and in control of the situation, "As long as this is the past and Arthur isn't dead we should find him!"

Mulan started to stand and Ai tilted her head to the side, visibly chewing on the inside of her cheek, which was something she did when she was worried, "But _where_ are we? Could we even get to him?"

"I..." Mulan paused halfway off the ground, the unpleasant thought plaguing her mind, "We just have to try,"

"Oh yeah," Amy muttered, turning to help Ai off the ground, "so inspirational Lanie, really proud of you for that,"

The black haired girl didn't even have the energy to retort.

* * *

_The year is nineteen ninety two and Yao is stuck at Alfred's house. Fucking fantastic._

His boss didn't want him to be there, he didn't really want to be there, and Alfred sure as hell didn't want him to be there. So, as Yao daydreamt about going home to his own country Alfred walked around in the kitchen, muttering about how he just wanted some time to himself.

Well, that is, if you could call it a kitchen.

The worst part of being stuck at Alfred's house (other than having to be near the American himself) was which building it was. Back in the day the sandy blond personification had lived on a ranch down in Texas, but then he had moved to California to get more in touch with other parts of his county. Actually- he hadn't started down in Texas, and he sure as hell hadn't ended his moving spiel in California. Back when the country had gotten colonized he had went from Boston to other historic sites, and even once that war had settled down he stayed in the same relative area for a reasonable amount of time. And even though his memory was a bit faded to go along with the American civil war Alfred had tried his best to explain his housing situation. Quite a bit before the war had started he had been living in the South for a little bit, but had quickly moved back up to the North and stayed in Maine for a couple decades. After a reasonable amount of time had passed he had moved down to Texas, though this phase was quickly replaced by an urge to see the cities on the West coast. After his short-lived California phase there was a little bit of exploration around Alaska before he got bored and moved back to his roots.

So that was why Yao found himself in a stuffy New York city apartment that smelled like molding bagels and rat piss.

The worst part of it all was the Chinese personification's lack of ability to grasp the idea of moving _so damn much_. He had pretty much stayed in the same general area of his country for the last hundred years, so he really didn't get what was up with Alfred's obsession with changing his housing situation every decade. Of course China had moved around, but for the majority of his history it just hadn't been worth it and he tended to get a little too attached to his surroundings.

"You know what America?" China turned his head and scowled bitterly at the teen who was circling his folding chair with increasing contempt, "how about you go to one of your other rooms to mutter insults about me, doesn't that sound nice?"

America's lip twitched as he stopped his pacing, voice low and just as contempt filled as his mutterings had been, "How about you go to another goddamn room and don't order me about my own house?"

"Doesn't that sound just _wonderful_ ," China scowled, voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm sure the rats in this goddamn apartment are just _lovely_ company!"

Alfred stomped his foot, "My apartment doesn't have rats, and don't act like you own the pace just because you decided to stay here!

"Ha!" the laugh was completely devoid of mirth as Yao's eyes darkened further, "I didn't choose to be here dimwit, I just can't go anywhere else in this godforsaken city without people thinking I'm here to spread communist values,"

Alfred's shoulder's sank at that. It was true that his people were very rudely biased, especially after the war that had only officially ended a year before. This was why he wouldn't argue with China's words and though he still felt China's eyes boreing holes into the back of his head he turned away. "Okay," he whispered, tapping his socked heel against the scrappy wooden floor, "that's fair, that's fair."

China sighed and the metal chair creaked a little bit as he stood.

"I'll go get some groceries," China muttered, voice thick. Bending over and shrugging his coat onto his shoulders before straightening up once more, his lip twitched in annoyance, "I'm not eating another fucking piece of cold pizza even if it's the last pizza I ever eat,"

America sighed and swished around to face the shorter nation, "Then what will you be getting? Because I don't really want to cook anything else,"

"Vegetables probably," China muttered darkly before stalking to the door of the apartment. The blonde probably should have gone out and got the food himself since it was true that the non-American personification could actually be in danger in such a violently capitalist (and dangerously patriotic at times) place, but Yao was gone before the thought even came to Alfred.

* * *

Mulan, Ai, and Amy had been been walking for what was surely hours by the time they got to an area of the street that was lit up enough to feel safe. It had been discovered, during their trek, that they were somewhere in New York city, which was at least a place that Amy knew well enough to get around in. The only problem was that the city was different than they knew, and some of the buildings they knew to be there were replaced by others. It wasn't clear exactly what year they were in, but judging by some old newspapers in a closing bookstore's window they had landed either directly after the Cold War or very close to its end.

The three girls stopped outside of a restaurant and shivered, trying to think of how they could get to Britain without three matching plane tickets. They didn't have the money to get even one, let alone three. Besides, it would take to long even to fly, probably. What would their parents think? Would they be worried? When they went back would the future have changed or stayed exactly the same? It was hard to tell. Mulan especially was terrified, since changing the future was a horrifying concept, Ai was also worried, though she seemed more concerned on the fact that they didn't know what to do. Even Amy was drawing blanks on their course of action, but they had to act fast enough to get out of cold night air of the foreboding city.

"I don't know what we're gonna do," Amy was pacing underneath the light that flooded out of a restaurant window high above.

"We could go into that store," Ai vaguely gestured across the street, "That way we could stay for a while, I bet they have less of an expectation for us to buy things than a restaurant,"

"We've been over this," Mulan deadpanned in response, "They would probably wonder where our parents are,"

Ignoring Ai's muttered 'I have the same question', Amy let out a scornful laugh and pressed her back against the brick wall of the building behind them, "This is New York! Do you really think they would care?"

"Of course I do!" Ai fumed, "Have some hope in people!"

With that the siblings feel silent again, save for Amy's rapidly tapping foot against the sideway below them. There were some people passing by now and then, a few cyclists brave enough to ride in the night, a few couples drunkenly wobbling into their cars, some tourists chatting about how excited they were to get to their hotel and finally go to bed. But none of them batted an eye at the sight of the three girls alone outside of a restaurant.

Ai still had her eyes trained on the door of the store across the street, lip quivering as if she would burst into tears at any second though the rest of her face showed no sign of such weakness. Mulan followed her gaze but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, anger flared up inside her, the pent up rage and stress from being forced into time travel ready to let itself loose. She scowled and turned to her sister, getting up from the wall and ready to tell her everything that was wrong with finding hope in a supermarket when her two siblings had already turned down the idea.

But just as Mulan started to speak the door of the store across the way opened and Ai's eyes widened in surprise. Just as Mulan was going to ask what was wrong, annoyance still ready and at her disposal, Ai reached up and held a finger in front of the black haired girl's mouth- affectively shushing her. Again, rage flared inside her and she started to speak when Ai darted away from the wall, choppily stopping herself.

"What is it?" Mulan growled, "Why are you acting like that?"

When Ai did not answer she turned to Amy in disbelief, but only to find that her other sister was now up and standing at the ready as well, knees slightly bent as if to pounce. She groaned and slowly turned to face where the other two were gaping, though with much less enthusiasm.

And she was met with something she did not expect.

Across the street there was a man that seemed... vaguely familiar, but turning away from the brightly lit restaurant to the relatively moody street made it hard for her eyes to adjust. The man had on a black T-shirt and a gray scarf with some sort of tassels on only one end, but his clothing was unimportant. Still, she found herself recognizing black combat boots that looked just as oddly familiar as the rest of him. In the beginning she was too far away to see the details of his face, but he appeared to be counting objects- probably groceries- in a gray plastic bag.

It was only when he stepped closer that it became clear to her who she was looking at, and when it became clear the realization hit like a truck.

China had his hair pulled into a higher ponytail that how she usually saw it, and the hair in front of his ears was a bit shorter than what she remember, he even had a red-ish yarn bracelet she had never seen before, but there was no doubting it when she saw the color in his eyes. You see, regular humans don't usually have eyes that can strike fear into the hearts of other shoppers on the street without even trying to be threatening, no, it was personifications of places and things that had that power. Even beyond that, people generally didn't have eyes so bright golden it seemed like they were glowing even in the dim light of two broken street lamps.

It was only personifications of places and things that had that power.

The three siblings seemed to jump away from the restaurant in unison, racing across the street without even thinking about what they were doing, without thinking about the possible complications the future could have because of a meeting like this. But before anyone got to him, China's head shot up from it's former downward cast placement. He ducked out of the way with a yelp of surprise, dropping the plastic bag and skidding into a cat-like crouch a little bit away, eyes narrowed and a sharp and shiny object glinting in his left hand. It was, Mulan realized with a faint shock, a utility knife. Of course their father wouldn't walk around an unfamiliar city without a means to protect himself.

Mulan managed to stop herself at the edge of the street and ducked behind a car in embarrassment and panic. Amy nearly tripped, but caught herself before falling onto the dirty pavement. It was Ai who had the most uneventful end to her quick rush across the road as she made a quick turn to face her father, panting at the still strong rush of adrenaline in her veins, "I," she huffed awkwardly, "f-forgot about your reflexes,"

China's eyes flicked between the three girls, seeming a little bit more at ease when he saw that they were only children, though he did not leave his battle-ready position. It was then that a mix of recognition and further confusion clouded his gaze, "'Forgot about my reflexes'? Do I know you?"

Ai started at this, blinking before turning away and biting her lip, "Well no, I don't suppose you do,"

There was panic evident in her voice and China swallowed, not wanting to upset the worried-looking child even though she had ran at him out of nowhere. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice calmer than before as he straightened up a little bit, though he still held onto the knife. His arm had drooped a little bit, but the three knew to still be wary not to make any sudden movements or come too much closer, the nation surely knew how to use the small tool as a weapon worthy of being cautious around.

"What do you mean, I don't know you 'yet'?" He repeated again, chewing on the inside of his cheek and adjusting the position of the knife in his hand.

"We're your kids," Amy blurted out suddenly.

China blinked and tilted his head to the side, "Kids? I don't have any kids..." But then panic finally hit his eyes as he flicked the knife closed, parental instinct kicking in so suddenly, "But if you're lost I could help you find your parents, or find a woman who would if they wouldn't trust me. Are you lost?"

Amy shook her head vigorously, and seeing that the weapon was now out of the way Ai rushed forward, throwing herself against his chest. China reeled backwards and yelled out in shock, but he luckily didn't stab her out of pure survival instinct. He stood still still, though Ai could feel his chest heaving as he looked around to Amy and Mulan, seeing what they would do next and hoping to God he wasn't about to be attacked.

The second of the sisters to run forward and bury her father in a hug was Amy, though she took a few slow steps before sprinting and jumping into the hug. China backed up a little bit again, the heel of his boot clicking against the ground.

Mulan had never considered herself a particularly emotional person, but seeing her two sisters give in to their built up emotions was too much and she too threw herself into the hug, unable to stop the thankful tears that began to roll down her cheeks.

* * *

Whatever Alfred had been expecting when Yao got back to the apartment was not flinging the door open and calling out in a tone that sounded rather frightened.

"America?" He called, "can you get in here?"

"What is it?" Alfred yelled out from behind the bedroom door, "Why don't you come here? I'm watching TV!"

"Fuck your TV!" Yao yelled, "Get over here!"

Shocked, Mulan blinked at the use of profanity, China barely ever swore, let alone around them. Ai, however, smiled through emotion filled teary eyes, and Amy laughed a little bit, peeking around the entry way. It lead directly into a kitchen area where a folding table held an empty bowl flicked with little bits of mustard and a knife stuck vertically into a stick of butter which was only half way out of it's wrapping.

But before she knew it, a door opened and muffled footsteps walked across the floor, "What is it?" Alfred was cooing sarcastically, "are your little arms too weak to hold a single bag of-"

But when he rounded the corner he shut up pretty quick. At first Mulan wasn't sure if it was look of absolute and utter fury on China's face or the fact that he had brought three strange children into a already stuffy apartment, though after giving it a little more thought it was probably the latter.

Alfred's laugh tittered awkwardly, "China? Why did you bring three children home instead of food?"

China sneered mirthlessly and lifted the back a little bit higher so that the taller nation could see it, "Wrong again, I brought that too,"

"Well, um," Alfred worriedly laughed once more, "Come in I guess?"

It took quite a bit of explaining to properly convey the general consensus of what had happened, but the three girls tried their best. America had made them each a plastic cup full of box macaroni and cheese in an oddly placed attempt to comfort them, he had even offered half hard boiled egg and some instant mashed potatoes (all of which Yao was apparently not aware of) but the last two offers had been turned down. As they got to the part of the story where they had found China the brunet stood and began putting away the vegetables which he had left on the table for a little too long, almost as if the mention of where he had been while buying them kickstarted the memory that he wanted to put them away before they started to rot.

"I'm just worried that our future will change when we go back," Ai sighed, rubbing her eyes. She hadn't touched her mac and cheese and hearing the worry in her voice Alfred nudged it a little bit closer to his future daugher. He rested his cheek in the crook of his arm and smiled sadly.

"I haven't met you before but considering that I apparently adopted you some time years from now I feel like I should comfort you,"

Ai laughed a little bit at that and poked the now cold junk food with a pinky finger. The brightly colored cheese stuck to her finger when she pulled it away, but if she noticed she didn't do anything about it. Even with the momentary joy her face her eyes eventually darkened and the young girl sank back down into worry, "I'm still scared,"

China frowned and shut the refrigerator, "But is that how time travel works?"

After a beat Ai drummed her fingers on the table, "I'm not sure,"

China shrugged, voice soft, "Well, even if it is it's too late to change that now. Just try not to think about it, we're going to try to send you back unharmed,"

"I'm sure that's easier said than done," Alfred murmured, reaching out and ruffling Ai's hair tentatively, "The not worrying part at least, we're definitely going to get you back to your life safe,"

Ai smiled, and Amy nodded hopefully.

"You're good parents," Mulan sniffed, trying not to start crying at the overwhelming fear of changing their lives.

"Not yet we aren't," China muttered gruffly, "I'd prefer not to think about being with this man,"

"Oh don't be so bitter," Alfred muttered, pulling out a flip-phone and pressing a button to turn it on, "You'd be in the right to stop complaining and accept that it's your future,"

"Damn, no need to say it so creepily," China rolled his eyes as he walked to the blonde's side, peering over his shoulder and squinting at the phone, "You're telling England to get here?"

"Yeah," Alfred nodded.

* * *

_The year is twenty twenty one, and oddly... nothing about the present seem to have changed._

After England had apparated into the New York apartment, he had given the three child a scolding and asked that when they return to the future they remember to give him the book back without casting anymore spells.

The British man explained, the the relief of everyone in the room, that time travel did not change the future because when one traveled to the past it had already happened, so Alfred and Yao would have had the memory already for the entire time after the travel happened. When one time travels the world is not based around them but instead already set on it's own course, so it is impossible to change the course of history though simple magic. People just aren't important enough to have that much power over their lives.

They had said an awkward goodbye to their parents, to which China and America just laughed and waved goodbye, though China still looked a bit uncomfortable. As the world started to spin around them once more Mulan could hear their parents begin to argue about something, though what it was wasn't clear.

This time, now that the spinning was expected, it wasn't as bad. So, the room spun faster and faster and then everything was still. Absolutely still.

And this time, it would be the last time the trio would be using that trope for God's sake.

end.

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

_..._

_hi._

_I drew a little sketch of how I was imagining them..._

_...it's not very good..._

_...I spent one minute and forty three seconds on it..._

_...but here it is-_

_(I drew it in Microsoft Paint.)_

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And some nice fluff for you.  
> Yeah, this was so hard to write (I pretty much never write fluff) but I think it turned out pretty good!!!  
> Even if it starts out with crack and then has some angst and then some more angst and pretty much zero fluff I'm still counting it as fluff because I tried damnit! /j (kinda)
> 
> I love these girls so much. :')
> 
> ...I'll never be writing then again but boy I'll miss them T-T
> 
> Also I didn't edit this... at all. Soo........


	3. Kǎi dì māo (Hello Kitty)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I a little uncomfortable with the original idea so I wrote another story because I wanted the same number of chapters... I hope you enjoy regardless!
> 
> Uuh, I guess the in quotation marks bit is...  
> "They get a cat"
> 
> lol

It was when he saw the little fluffball by the side of the road that he made his decision.

It was when he saw that the kitten was being actively ignored by the other pedestrians that he acted on his decision.

So that was how America had gotten into into the start of this situation, holding a the tiny fuzzball in a way that his boss didn't see them as they met up with each other after the meeting. The human had gone to another meeting and him (of course) but some of the other officials had decided that it was a _brilliant_ idea to have them travel back to the airport together. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get into the car while holding the kitten, especially since the paparazzi were starting to show up. Of course him and the president weren't going to be sitting in the same area of the car, they weren't on the same 'level' politically, but he still didn't want to risk it.

So he made up some bullshit excuse to a member of the secret service and noped out, hoping that they wouldn't run after him and bring him back for not following the plan. He knew that it would probably be blown up and turned into a sandal by the newspapers- him leaving the area- even if it wasn't that big of a deal. But he had dealt with worse than a simple sandal before, and if one popped up he would simply live with it's reality.

Plus, he felt like if it slipped out _exactly_ why he was carrying the kitten it would definitely be more of a scandal.

After all what sort of tabloid didn't just _love_ two seemingly forward inclined men ending up together? They threatened rumors of it all the time, and if it really came out that the United States of America was dating the People's Republic Of China (of all personifications to fall in love with) they would have a goddamn _field day_. He didn't want that so his over exaggerated conflict control of an imagination thought it would be a better idea to run away from his boss while visibly carrying a kitten under his North Face jacket.

And so he casually ran all the way back to the capital building, ignoring the confused looks from the average people just trying to go about their daily lives.

He raced back into it, calling to the people at the desk that sat at the front that he had left some papers in the meeting room before continuing his run down the hall that head down to the room he had been in only twenty minutes before. He slowed once he got to the entryway of the room, checking to make sure the the kitten was safe (they were fine) before peeking through the glass window in the wooden door.

There were only five people left in the room.

Romano was angrily staring at a wall with his arms cross, tapping his foot and clearly waiting for Germany to stop scolding his brother so that they could go back to their hotel. On the other side of the room France was picking up stray papers that had fallen onto the floor (who knew how they had gotten there) and chatting with China, who was tapping the heel of his boot against the floor and clearly venting about something while wiping off the black board. America smiling behind the door, great the brunet was still here and he could present the kitten!

So following this kind of flawed logic Alfred barged into the room, swinging open the door and letting it hit the wall with a loud crash. "The hero is here again!" he crowed. Romano jumped and cursed loudly, America wasn't sure what had scared him- the bang from the door or his yell- but he didn't care enough to focus on it. He noticed Germany glaring at him out of the corner of his eye, it looked as though Italy had been frightened and was now glued to the taller blonde's chest and shaking like a leaf, France gave him a strange look but just kept cleaning and China looked rather... annoyed.

Forgetting that annoyed people weren't the best to present animals to America sauntered over, smiling meanly and Romano before calling out to his boyfriend, "Yo China! Dude! I brought you something!"

China crossed his arms and glared as the American approached, "There was way too much excitement in that statement America, I thought you left."

"You sound upset that I'm back," Alfred cooed, smiling and putting his hands on his hips.

China's lip twitched, "I am,"

America laughed, though he could feel Germany holding back a scolding behind him, "Why are you so upset, here, I brought you something!" With that he drew the kitten out from where he had been cradling them under his coat.

A wave of emotions seemed to rush over his boyfriend's face- first surprise, then confusion, then an apprehensive joy, then annoyance before another wave of confusion. He bit his lip but took a hesitant step forward, cocking his head to one side and staring at the baby cat's tiny face, his voice sounding small once he finally spoke, "W...why?"

Alfred's face burned despite the fact that it wasn't even an insult, but he didn't really have a way to explain his impulsive actions and so he couldn't answer. "Alfred?" China asked again, voice level, "Why and how did you bring a cat into here?" Behind them America could here France laughing, though it seemed that Romano had left the room (probably due to annoyance at Germany).

"I dunno man," Alfred rubbed the back of his neck, holding the kitten securely in the crook of his other arm, "I just kind of did?"

"That's not an answer," China reason reaching forward and taking the small fluffy animal from his boyfriends arms. (Briefly making a chirp-like noise of appreciation before turning back to his previous serious expression.) "How did you get in here? Animals aren't really allowed are they?"

America shrugged and suddenly a look of panic and recognition seemed to hit the other man, "Wait," China exclaimed, "Aren't you supposed to be in a car with your boss?" Blushing, America tried to dismiss the concern with a wave of his hand (earning an annoyed look from both China and Germany- who was apparently still in the room). Unfortunately it didn't work and China stepped closer, a matching glare to the stalkiness of his footsteps, "You're supposed to be there aren't you?" His voice seemed to hold back a wave of anger and fear, as if he was scared of what could happen to his boyfriend as a result of disobeying direct orders. To be frank he probably was.

Pouting, America trying to remain neutral, "But I got the kitten for you!"

"For what reason?" China sighed and muttered something about 'you westerners' under his breath, "You should obey orders Alfred,"

Italy piped up from behind them, surprising the quarreling lovers, "But a kitten is important, no?" He blinked back at them, the smile on his face only growing when China looked annoyed, "Ve~" he cooed, "I'm right though, am I not?"

"You are not," China and Germany responded at the same time, growling and sighing respectively.

"I'm so sorry about him," Germany sighed apologetically, turning to the three others in the room (with a start Alfred realized that France was still watching them fight, mesmerized), "I'll have us leave now, is there anything else I can pick up?"

China shook his head, "It's fine, I'll finish cleaning up," he elbowed America and glared upwards (though he was still holding the kitten close to his chest), "You will too America,"

"Sure, of course!" America laughed unnecessarily loudly, "The hero always cleans up the meeting room!"

China rolled his eyes and Germany shook his head slightly, both clearly disagreeing with the blonde's assessment. Germany waved goodbye and shoved Italy out of the room before nodding in his own goodbye and exiting the room as well. Their departure left only China, America, and France in the room, though the last headed to pick up his stuff as well, blowing a kiss before waving goodbye too and near-skipping out of the room. Once he was gone the two were really alone.

Immediately rounding on his boyfriend, China looked angry, "Why did you run back in here just to hand me a-" he struggled with his words for a second, "-tiny cat who contributes nothing to us?"

"But you love them don't you?" America protested, "Don't pretend to be just mad at me!"

"Well- yeah!" his blushing face looked almost confused, "But it's still bad to disobey your boss!"

"What makes them so much better than us?" America pouted, "I've been alive longer,"

Looking unimpressed, China shook his head, "Don't you even try to pull that card with me. If you don't want to listen to your boss because he's younger than you then listen to be telling you to listen to your boss-" He looked up and narrowed his eyes, "-because I'm older than all of you,"

Groaning and throwing his head back America couldn't find words to argue back. So he just looked back at his boyfriend and reached out, "Then hand me the kitten, I'll put them back on the street for you,"

China yelped and jumped backwards, "No!"

Grinning and feeling a rush of triumph pass through him, America stood taller and put his hands on his hips, "So you are happy with my decision!" Looking partly angry, China tried to argue back (though his face only felt hotter and the blonde's laughter drown out any sort of merit in his words). After his need for laughter had been fulfilled, America smiled mirthfully and put a finger to his boyfriend's lips, trying to shush him.

Yao pushed his hand away and turned around, clearly blushing hard and not wanting to be shushed though it seemed he had nothing else to say. Or at least that he had found arguing useless and still didn't want to admit it.

"You're happy," America smiled softly, watching China bristle in reaction to the kind sediment. The brunet muttered angrily under his breath and America laughed, "You are!" it was barely detectable but China nodded once- just one quick sign of agreement. Alfred felt his heart soar, "I'm glad that you're happy, you don't even have to admit to it,"

Seeming to relax a little China sighed, and though his back was still turned America could tell he was smiling. "Okay," he sounded tentative, but glad, "I am happy that you picked up the kitten,"

"I am too," America grinned.

"I am not happy, however, that you disobeyed your boss," Yao's voice was suddenly strict and America blinked, groaning and rubbing the back of his neck.

"This again?" his voice had deflated and sounded far more exasperated than it had a moment before. China spun around and just as he though he was about to get scrolled China broke into a smile.

"It's okay Alfred," his voice was sweet and yet confident, "You'll figure out some excuse to tell them all right?"

His heart soared in his chest once more and his shoulders rose, seeming to puff up with pride at the attention from his boyfriend, "Right!" he exclaimed, raising his hand in a salute.

China smiled, and held out his arms, the kitten staring forward (presumably partially unseeingly since their eyes were still blue), "You should hold them again."

"I should?" America laughed, "Don't you want to?"

"I mean," China shrugged and pushed his arms forward more, clearly eager to hand the tiny animal over, "I do, but you started this so you should first,"

Smiling widely America felt his heart flutter with joy and he gently took the small creature from the other's hands, "Okay! I'll hold them if it makes you happy,"

"It makes you happy too right?" China happily blinked and tilted his head to one side, smiling though at the kitten rather than Alfred, "God," he laughed as the kitten laid down in the blonde's hands, "that's adorable,"

America beamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to write fluff and I wrote an argument lol what is happening.
> 
> WOW I struggled with this a *lot*!!!!  
> It was the fluff wasn't it????  
> Was that it???  
> Ouch. I hope next chapter is betterrrrrrrr
> 
> and longerrrrr since this is so so so SO short  
> I couldn't really write anymore, I'm super bad at fluff. :/
> 
> .
> 
> ugh


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